Return to the Southern Continent

As we play, occasionally we'll close a thread and open a new one to keep the size of threads (and relative complexity) down to a dull roar. Here's where we store the closed posts from the history of Errant Road.
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Alberich
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Re: Return to the Southern Continent

Post by Alberich »

Udo drew himself up to his full height, though he had to flinch a moment when another piece of debris his his shield. "And just what's wrong with our boys in black?" he asked. "They'll defend you no matter how you talk." Unless you cock-block 'em or something, but in your case you've got no worries.

[OOC: Well, the skirts of the robes are black, anyway, here.]
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Graybeard
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Re: Return to the Southern Continent

Post by Graybeard »

"Boys in black?" thought Khoo. He had no idea what the expression meant. For one thing, he'd dealt with battlemages in testing his glider, and they didn't wear black, or at least didn't wear "only" black. Besides, almost half of them had been women. Who or what were these "boys" that this odd man was talking about? Eventually he decided there was some idiom at work here that he didn't understand; the dialect of Tsuirakuan that was spoken in the islands differed enough from the language of Tsuirakushiti (and Tsuirakushita) as almost to represent a separate language. Well, no matter. He shrugged his shoulders and went with the flow.
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Alberich
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Re: Return to the Southern Continent

Post by Alberich »

"The flow" took them right to Reiko's Rice Balls - a sturdy establishment with a reinforced roof, like many buildings in this district. Reiko herself was stout and middle-aged with gold in her smile, but she was cheerful and friendly, patting her male customers on the arm as she welcomed them in. Elves and kobolds didn't faze her at all. She'd probably serve trolls and kitsune with the same aplomb.

The lunch customers were gone, and Udo thought this just as well, as this was maybe not such a good day to catch up on the old times with anyone he knew.
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Return to the Southern Continent

Post by Jack Rothwell »

Tamina greeted the owner with all her usual enthusiasm before she grabbed a table for the group.

"Stay on the ground this time!" She said, sitting down and holding out the chair next to her as Drusia approached. "No more flying! Umm... Key-o? You know who was the peoples who pushed the tower over? Been thinking..." She said to Udo and the elf. "...maybe the Ralkin came to get us, maybe bad blonde man chased us, oh... no... died in the av-lanche, didn't he?"
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Graybeard
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Re: Return to the Southern Continent

Post by Graybeard »

"Umm... Key-o? You know who was the peoples who pushed the tower over?"

Khoo had actually been doing some thinking about that very subject, once he emerged from the adrenaline shock. Thing was, it hadn't done him much good. "I don't know," he answered. "Our country is at peace. It has the most powerful military in the world. No one in their right mind would attack us like that." The conclusion was obvious. "So the attack was done by someone not in their right mind." Was that a helpful observation? Probably not.

"Now what is a 'Ralkin'?" he asked; there might be enemies out there that he didn't know about, after all.
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Drusia
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Re: Return to the Southern Continent

Post by Drusia »

"May -- may I join you?"
"Oh! Merry and more of us!" Tamina chipped in. "Wait... the more the merrier! You want to get the bad men too?"


I shrug. I assume he was asking to join us for the purpose of escaping falling debris and getting something to eat, but if Tamina wants to recruit this young mage for a battle-to-the-death with the dark mages of the Ralkin, then sure, why not. Never underestimate the power of an attractive young woman in getting horny young men to risk their lives for causes that have nothing to do with them. Case in point - Udo.

Anyway, on to escaping and food. I pointedly ignore Udo and Khoo arguing - it's sort of cute, but not particularly relevant.

"Umm... Key-o? You know who was the peoples who pushed the tower over?"
"I don't know," he answered. "Our country is at peace. It has the most powerful military in the world. No one in their right mind would attack us like that." The conclusion was obvious. "So the attack was done by someone not in their right mind."
"Now what is a 'Ralkin'?"


I frown. I'd assumed an accident of some sort - with all the airship traffic, such an accident seemed entirely possible. Drunk or overtired airship pilot runs into tower, killing himself and many innocents.

The idea that it might be some sort of attack... seems unlikely on it's own. Who uses airships besides the Tsuirakians? I suppose it would be a crafty way to go, but still - who would be stupid enough to declare war on one of the most powerful nations in the world?

The idea that it was an attack on us specifically seems equally far-fetched. Any enemy of mine - particularly Eli - would know better than to use something like that. Had I not been experiencing a flashback - which no one could have anticipated, myself included - then that would have been a singularly bad way to try to kill me. I could have gated out of the tower easily enough. I might have failed to save Udo, but he was perfectly capable of saving himself.

If it wasn't an accident, the most likely explanation is actually the most horrifying. An Errant. A lone, insane individual taking over an airship and crashing it deliberaly into the tower. Worse yet, it is unlikely that a random half-elf would be in a position - or have the training - to do that. It is actually more likely that, if it was an Errant, that it was a human Errant. We've long wondered if it was possible for a human with only the tiniest amount of elven blood - like the entire population of Tsuirakushiti - to become Errants. Of course, any human can just be insane, but that particular tendency to go from being perfectly normal and simply snap and start killing people - that tendency is very particular to Errants.

If it was a Tsuirakian Errant, then the entire city is a powder keg waiting to go off. And - worse yet - if my people find out, they just might do something very, very stupid. If there is a nation on this planet that could reasonably wipe us out, it is Tsuiraku. It would be the fucking Errant War all over again.

And, Anilis forgive me, I'd fight for Tsuiraku, if they'd have me. Then, maybe, my children in Snamish could finally return to Tsuirakushiti and claim their place there.

I clear my throat. "We shouoldn't jump to conclusions," I say to Khoo, Udo, and Tamina. "The incident was probably an accident, not an attack. I'm sure there are investigators looking in to what happened even now."

-- Drusia
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Return to the Southern Continent

Post by Jack Rothwell »

"We shouldn't jump to conclusions. The incident was probably an accident, not an attack. I'm sure there are investigators looking in to what happened even now."

"Hope so." Tamina agreed, nodding vigorously and then, turning back to Khoo. "Ralkin are bad people, use dark magic, summon monsters and sicknesses. Long time enemies of the kobolds... my people." She tapped a hand on her chest. "Think they're doing the plotting something bad, going to the Southern conty... conta... ahh... home to let my people know. Gonna stop them."

The kobold drew her lips back in an involuntary snarl at the thought of the atrocities the cult leader and his men had perpetrated, displaying rows of needle sharp teeth to the men sitting opposite.
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Graybeard
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Re: Return to the Southern Continent

Post by Graybeard »

OOC: One small thing before moving forward that may be relevant to getting to the Southern Continent:
Drusia wrote: I frown. I'd assumed an accident of some sort - with all the airship traffic, such an accident seemed entirely possible. Drunk or overtired airship pilot runs into tower, killing himself and many innocents.

The idea that it might be some sort of attack... seems unlikely on it's own. Who uses airships besides the Tsuirakians? I suppose it would be a crafty way to go, but still - who would be stupid enough to declare war on one of the most powerful nations in the world?
The answer to the "Who uses airships" question, to my surprise, is "Basically, everybody." We learned this from one of the "Chronicles of Errant Knowledge" a while back. Even the Veracians have them, which means that the use that Rose, Argus, Desiree, Lillith, etc., made of an airship to get to Goriel is supported by canon.

It would probably be best to downplay the details of the Tower of Artifex crash, to avoid getting crossways with future developments in canonical Errant Story prequels and sequels. I'll arrange for Khoo to "learn" some things that at least aim responsibility away from the Ralkin. Meanwhile, airships are certainly in play as a means of heading for the Southern Continent, whether they originate in Tsuiraku, Farrel or even Veracia.
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Drusia
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Re: Return to the Southern Continent

Post by Drusia »

Graybeard wrote:The answer to the "Who uses airships" question, to my surprise, is "Basically, everybody." We learned this from one of the "Chronicles of Errant Knowledge" a while back. Even the Veracians have them, which means that the use that Rose, Argus, Desiree, Lillith, etc., made of an airship to get to Goriel is supported by canon.
OOC: Recent in-world events are recent.

Keep in mind who was thinking that. Drusia.

Tsuiraku existing (or at least being visible) is still recent and fairly novel from Drusia point of view. Airships, made popular by Tsuiraku, are still pretty new (relatively speaking) in the world - and expanding out from Tsuiraku's influence.

Also, Drusia doesn't really use Airships, so she probably doesn't know that much about who does or does not use them.

You know, just because Drusia makes a sweeping, incorrect generalization doesn't mean that there's a canon breech - she could just be wrong, making an incorrect assumption, or using outdated information. I know everyone assumes that Elves know everything, but yikes.
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Graybeard
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Re: Return to the Southern Continent

Post by Graybeard »

[OOC: Fair enough, and that wasn't primarily for Drusia-the-elf; it's so that we all have the full range of options going forward. And so:]

"A moment," Khoo said, and popped open his Pocket Dimension. Like any other student, he carried his crystal ball everywhere, and he now extracted it and connected to Crystalnet. He frowned as the ball glowed with news reports. "All they know is that it was a stolen airship and it appeared to have been crashed into the Tower deliberately, rather than being thrown all over the sky by some dumb drunk. No other word yet on who did it. The word 'Ralkin' doesn't appear in any of the reports. Not sure whether that means anything." He glanced at Tamina and shrugged, then he continued. "The warp gates topside have all been shut down because of panic, but at least the gates outside Tsuirakushiti are still running. All civilian airship traffic into and out of Tsuirakushiti is down too, only the military is flying." As if to punctuate his words, a fast military airship zoomed by at a surprisingly low altitude. "Same thing, though, they say that airship travel in the provinces is still possible, with, quote unquote, 'heightened security.' I don't want to think about what that means."

He stowed the crystal ball and turned back to Tamina. "So if you want to go to the Southern Continent, it looks like you can get there. But none of us are getting back up to the sky any time soon."
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